Brazil

Coconut palms in Fortaleza, Ceará.

With a population of over 201 million, the Federative Republic of Brazil is the largest and most populous country in Latin America, and fifth largest in the world. It covers 8, 511, 965 sq km, spanning a vast area between central South America and the Atlantic Ocean. Named after brazilwood, a tree highly valued by early colonists, Brazil is home to both extensive agricultural lands and rain forests and is South America's leading economic power and a regional leader. As a former colony of Portugal, Portuguese is its official language.

Religion: About 74% (as high as 88% in some areas) of the population in Brazil is Roman Catholic which is the largest Catholic population in the world. Followers of Protestantism are rising in number, currently at 15.4%. Other Christian groups constitute only 1.3% of the population. African traditional religions such as Candomblé, Macumba, and Umbanda are the next largest groups. There are around 120,000 members of the Jewish community (located mostly in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) while Buddhism, Shinto, and other Asian religions are also sizeable. There are around 28,000 muslims, or 0.01% of the population. Brazilians often practice a mixture of several different religions, such as Catholicism, Candomble and indigenous American religion combined.

The Northeast

The Northeast region of Brazil is composed of 9 states and is the poorest section of the country. The Nunleys spent their first 24 years there, specifically in the states of Ceará and Paraíba, where they focused on church-planting. Three of their children were born there.

The South

The South region of Brazil is made up of only 3 states but is more densely populated than the Northeast. In 2002 the Nunleys moved to one of those states, Paraná, and continue to work in church-planting but, also, in the Bible College.